News

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego has announced that beginning March 1, selected workshops from its widely acclaimed TeacherTECH Science Series will begin airing locally on UCSD-TV, and nationally on UCTV, the satellite channel for the University of California. In addition, the segments will be available as streaming videos and podcast downloads at www.ucsd.tv/teachertech, as well as on UCTV's YouTube and iTunesU channels.

Created in 2001, SDSC's TeacherTECH program helps educators bring the latest technological tools and technology-enabled science concepts into the K-14 curriculum. In addition to its Science Series, TecherTECH also includes a Technology Tools, Math Series, and Art Series program, and has to-date attracted more than 8,000 teachers from more than 250 area schools, reaching more than 140,000 students annually.

"SDSC's TeacherTECH helps reduce teachers' barriers to using technology for learning and teaching," said Ange Mason, Program Manager of SDSC's TeacherTECH program "This partnership with UCSD-TV and UCTV will help meet our goal of giving every teacher, regardless of where they live, access to essential tools to bring the latest science and technology into their classrooms."

Two TeacherTECH seminars premiere beginning March 1. " Newton's Laws and Gravity - From the Terrestrial to the Celestial", will be broadcast on UCSD-TV March 1 at 10 p.m. and March 31 at 8 p.m. Pacific Time; and on UCTV on March 23 at 8 p.m. PT/ET, and March 24 at 4 p.m.PT, which is UCTV's timeslot called "The Teacher's P.E.T." (Professional Education for Teachers).

The second seminar, called " Earthquakes: Teaching Tools Beyond Static Images and Flat Maps", will air on UCSD-TV March 25 at 8 p.m. PT; and on UCTV March 30 at 8 p.m. PT/ET, and March 31 at 4 p.m. PT, in the "Teacher's P.E.T" timeslot. The "P.E.T." website aligns each program with California State Board of Education Content Standards and provides complete broadcast schedules and links to view the programs in an on-demand format.

"This new collaboration between TecherTECH and UCSD-TV will dramatically expand our outreach to teachers who are seeking new ways of integrating technology tools and computational thinking into their teaching, to capture their students' imaginations and encourage them to innovate and discover through science and technology-related professional pursuits," added Diane Baxter, SDSC's Director of Education.

Because of its demonstrated effectiveness, the SDSC TeacherTECH program has impact beyond the greater San Diego area. The program has been shared by colleagues around the country through the annual TeraGrid and Supercomputing conferences. Educator professional development programs with similar missions and complementary approaches are offered by most of the other supercomputer centers that are part of the TeraGrid, a national network of 11 National Science Foundation centers that forms the world's largest distributed cyberinfrastructure for open scientific research.

"The TeacherTECH program has been very successful working with teachers and students in the San Diego area," according to Scott Lathrup, the TeraGrid Area Director for Education, Outreach and Training. "TeraGrid seeks to spread successful educational programs and resources throughout the country. This new collaboration with UCSD-TV and UCTV will directly benefit many teachers in exciting and motivating students across the country to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies and professional careers."

Specific broadcast information is as follows:

UCTV Channel information:

• Direct Broadcast Satellite: Nationwide on Dish Network Channel 9412
  
• Worldwide on the Internet at www.uctv.tv : Live webcast, "video-on-demand" archives, audio and video podcasts. Also available on iTunesU and YouTube www.youtube.com/uctv
  
• Cable TV: In California and across the country ( www.uctv.tv/cable )

San Diego UCSD-TV channel information:

• UCSD-TV airs on Cox and Time Warner Ch. 135, AT&T Uverse Ch. 99, and UHF (no cable) Ch. 35.
  
• Video archives, podcast downloads, broadcast schedules and more are available online at www.ucsd.tv.

About UCSD-TV and UCTV
As a university based station for the University of California, San Diego, UCSD-TV has unusual access to people and events that impact both the campus community and the greater San Diego region. With more than a decade of broadcasting experience, the station's non-commercial status gives it the autonomy to create content based strictly on relevance, interest and merit and is able to devote significant airtime to in-depth coverage of new ideas, key issues and emerging talent.

Launched in January 2000, University of California Television (UCTV) is a non-commercial channel featuring 24/7 programming from throughout the University of California, the nation's premier research university made up of 10 campuses, three national labs, and affiliated institutions.

About SDSC
As an organized research unit of UC San Diego, SDSC is a national leader in creating and providing cyberinfrastructure for data-intensive research. Cyberinfrastructure refers to an accessible and integrated network of computer-based resources and expertise, focused on accelerating scientific inquiry and discovery. SDSC recently doubled its size to 160,000 square feet with a new, energy-efficient building and data center extension, and is a founding member of TeraGrid, the nation's largest open-access scientific discovery infrastructure.

Media Contacts:
Jan Zverina, SDSC Communications
858 534-5111 or jzverina@sdsc.edu

Warren R. Froelich, SDSC Communications
858 822-3622 or froelich@sdsc.edu